Globe to partner with PLDT for independent tower company

MANILA -- Globe Telecom is reaching out to its corporate arch rival PLDT Inc. to jointly establish an independent tower company that will expedite the installation and deployment of cellular towers to further improve services while cutting costs substantially.

“Our CEO (chief executive officer) for the past two and a half years has been trying to convince our competitor to have a tower sharing venture for future builds to save on capex because today the towers are quite duplicative so where we have tower, they have a tower, vice versa,” Globe chief financial officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said during a press conference held in Taguig City Monday.

“At the moment, we are waiting for pronouncements on their end,” she added.

For his part, Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said a possible partnership will help lower costs on the deployment of communication facilities in the country.

“We’ve always been open to sharing. We are not into that -- exclusivity. We like the open market. We think it benefits both of us. Costs will be lower,” said Cu.

Globe has tapped the UBS Group as financial adviser for the initiative.

The company has announced last February that discussions have been initiated with independent third parties for the creation of a tower company that will help hasten the deployment of cellular towers in the country.

The towers to be erected are open for lease to new and existing players in line with the government’s initiative to open the local telco industry to more competition. An independent tower company will help reduce the time needed for a new telco player to rollout given the 25 permits and up to eight months required to build one cell tower.

The telco firm has spent around P6.6 billion in capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2018 to support the growing subscriber base and its demand.

Of the total expenditures spent for the period, about 64 percent was allocated for the data service needs of its customers. To date, Globe has a total of 38,963 base stations, with over 25,600 for 4G to support the service requirements of its customers.